Do you train people? The you must know that training involves persuasion. When we train people, we sway them into whatever it is we are trying to sell or advocate. The opposite is also true. Persuasion also trains and therefore teaches. Why is this so?

Isn’t it that when we sell something, be it a product, a service or a belief, we tell our market the benefits they will get from buying it. Or if we are proposing something and we want the approval of your boss or client, we need to tell them its value. So this means that when presenting what we have to them, we also teach and train them.

When you make presentations with lots of numbers and tons of data, they usually make your audience go to sleep. So how can you make these kinds of presentations more exciting or at least less boring? Below are some awesome tips:

Spread the Spreadsheet

This means giving each important data its own slide. This way, your audience is not overloaded with information on just one slide. Though this technique makes your presentation longer, it keeps your audience focused.

It is not only in MovieMaker that you can create this effect of zooming in a photo or series of photos, but you can apply this to images uploaded in PowerPoint as well! You can use this for your personal collection, for your company, an event, etc. Here are the basic steps below:

Import, resize and place the images– You can insert the images one by one or use PowerPoint’s album feature. Then resize the image/images according to your specifications then place them on the slide.

Add animation – Use the Grow/Shrink animation.

Add transitions – The Fade transition is a good one.

Set slide timings – Set the slide timing in such a way that the whole presentation will run by itself.

Add music or narration – Having the appropriate music at the background will add to the overall feel of the slide.

We live in modern times and everything keeps changing including trends in public speaking. Below are some things you need to remember if you want your audience to connect to you and keep them engaged the whole time you’re speaking or giving your presentation.

Presentations are becoming casual. From what presenters wear to the venue of the talk, things are getting more casual these days when it comes to presentations. This makes the speaker more accessible to the audience. So instead of doing your presentation in an auditorium, perhaps, you can do it in a coffee shop instead.

Audience members want to participate. So let them. Ask them questions, let them tweet about your talk, do live polls, etc.

Present webinars. This allows you to talk to a broader range of audience from all over the world. It’s budget-friendly too.

Can the formal presentation slides. Casual is also meant for your slides. Use an informal teacher-like approach. Use digital whiteboards and draw pictures to keep your audience’s interest.

So be sure to remember these things to keep yourself abreast with the trends. For more information, please head to: Trends in public speaking

“I have attached one slide from a presentation I did for a training class. I made most of it…I think the meat, service bell, trash can, and store logo/signs are the only graphics I didn’t design using PowerPoint shapes. I work for an independent grocery store chain in NW Ohio. I mimicked the meat department in one of our stores.”

You can head over to the original post so you can take a look at other objects that have been customized to the extreme. You may find them useful for your PowerPoint presentations: Results of Extreme Shapes Contest

First time presenters are usually nervous about facing the crowd and speaking in front of an audience. The result? They tend to speak a lot faster than what’s normal because they just can’t help feeling nervous about it.

Below are some tips that can help nervous speakers slow down:

Find Your WPM

You have to find out first what your number of words per minute is. Utilize an online calculator like the Speed of Speech tool to find out your average. Take note though that the average increases when you’re actually speaking in front of an audience.

Avoid Memorization

Instead of memorizing, know your piece instead. When you understand what you want to say to your audience then you’ll be able to speak from the heart instead of rushing through the series of words you’ve memorized.

Plan Pauses

By pausing every now and then especially to mark a new section, your delivery will be better and your audience will be more captivated by what you are saying.

Use a Metronome to Rehearse

Use free metronome apps either for Apple or Android to help you keep time as you practice your presentation.

Do you need to show software screen or paper forms to your audience during a presentation?

Many times, presenters just go directly to the site or the software itself. But what if:

there’s no internet connection available?

the text is too small to read?

or maybe you need to repurpose the slides to a PDF document for future use.

If any of these is the case, then this is what you do:

If you have the form or document with you, you just have to scan and then save it as a PNG or JPG image. Then when you show it in your PowerPoint slide, just insert the image on the slide. Zoom it to the section you need to show. You can actually crop it to just show the zoomed section.